With reform plan, Cox to make ethics an issue

Posted: Wednesday, January 18, 2006

ATLANTA - Secretary of State Cathy Cox on Tuesday announced a broad government reform proposal, her first major policy initiative in the race for governor and a clear sign that she plans to make ethics a centerpiece of her campaign.

Cox took aim at the Perdue administration for ethical lapses and favors to political allies.

She noted that Perdue had ousted the state's top nonpartisan ethical watchdog and had been fined $18,000 for campaign law violations.

"We deserve a government that works to create opportunities for all Georgians, not just the insiders," Cox said.

Cox's plan would have the judiciary - not the governor or the state legislature - appoint members to the state ethics commission and the state elections board. The aim would be to make the panels independent.

Cox also would create an independent state Contracting Standards Board and prohibit corporations from underwriting state research that could benefit them.

It would require legislators and other state elected officials to disclose whether their business, their family's business or their employer had done business with the state in the last five years or was soliciting state business.